Wednesday, January 16, 2013

Miso-Glazed Brussels Sprouts



Oh man, I love Brussels sprouts. Even as a child, they were one of my favorite vegetables. My mom used to get the frozen ones that comes packed in a butter sauce, and eventually switched to growing them in her large backyard garden. I had never seen anything like the giant stalks with the little sprouts popping out all over them.

Now they’re super trendy on restaurant menus in Austin. I’ve been enjoying them at East Side King (at the Liberty), and at Uchiko for quite a while, just to mention two places. And their preparations are much more piquant than the simple roasted-with-butter one I usually make at home.

Today, I tried something new, a piquant Brussels sprouts recipe of my own. With a bunch of ingredients I had on hand, I whipped up a quick sauce that I glazed the panfried sprouts with.

Holy cow, they were good. The sharp sauce was a great complement to the strong flavor of the vegetable. The Brussels sprouts came through all earthy and sweet, and the sweet-sour-salty-spicy glaze matched it perfectly.

 Miso-Glazed Brussels Sprouts

2 teaspoons white miso (this is really mild)
1 Tablespoon soy sauce
1 T. brown sugar
¼ teaspoon red chili flakes
Juice of half a lemon
1 Tablespoon sunflower or safflower oil
1 pint Brussels sprouts, ends trimmed, halved

Whisk together the miso, soy sauce, brown sugar, chili flakes, and lemon juice. Set aside.

Heat the oil in a frying pan over medium-high heat. Add the Brussels sprouts. Try to get them cut-side down, to help maximize the browning of the cut inner leaves. After about 3 minutes, flip one over and check for browning. If it’s well browned, from the center to the outer edges, stir and keep frying for another 5 minutes, stirring occasionally until they’re just beginning to get tender. If it’s not yet browned all the way across the cut side of the sprouts, keep cooking for another minutes before beginning to stir.

Turn the heat off and pour the miso mixture over the Brussels sprouts. Stir to coat and serve.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I've been a fan of Brussels Sprouts ever since Potluck B! What exactly is Miso? And what kind of flavor does it bring?

Christine said...

Miso is a fermented paste made usually from soy, but often from rice and barley, too. There are a bunch of different varieties, and the flavors are different for each. It's usually used as a seasoning, and it's got a ton of vitamins. It's good stuff.

But they're all fermented, so there's a little bit of funk going on. It's got a lot of salty and savory flavors. The darker varieties can be really sharp and assertive, but the kind I used, white miso, was labeled "Mellow Miso" by the maker. It's a little sweet, a little tangy, and really savory.

The stuff lasts forever, and little goes a long way, which is why I usually have some on hand.

Maybe I'll do a post on it in the future.

Anonymous said...

Cool! Thanks for the info :-)

Lauren said...

Not sure how I missed this one, because YUM! That looks amazing. It's so funny to me how enthusiastic I have grown about Brussels sprouts over the years. ;)

Christine said...

I've loved them since I was a kid, but we always had them boiled or steamed.

Now that I've been panfrying and roasting them, it's like a whole other vegetable!